The present invention relates to a document image scanning apparatus and method thereof, which obtain document images by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus such as a camera, in particular, which can obtain the document images at the right timing by separating hand images from document images technically even at the case that an operator does not take the hand off the documents.
As a conventional document image scanning apparatus, for example, Technical Report of The Institute of Electronics Information and Communication Engineers describes xe2x80x9cDocument Management by Desk Scene Analysisxe2x80x9d in pattern recognition and media understanding (PRMU) 98-153 pp. 25-32, 1998. And the operation of a document image scanning apparatus is mentioned in a Fig.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of this conventional document image scanning apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1, this conventional document image scanning apparatus consists of an image inputting section 101 composed of a scanner that is a non-contact type instrument such as a camera, and obtains images at a designated time interval, and a document image scanning section 202. This conventional document image scanning apparatus detects a document 303 that a hand 304 of an operator places on a desk, and obtains an image of the document.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a structure of the conventional document image scanning apparatus. As mentioned above, the conventional document image scanning apparatus consists of the image inputting section 101 and the document image scanning section 202. The document image scanning section 202 consists of an image memorizing section 103, a movement detecting section 104, a hand region detecting section 206, a hand region removing section 207, and a document image forming section 212. With this structure, for example, the image inputting section 101 takes images at a speed of a sheet per ten seconds and transfers the taken images to the document image scanning section 202.
Each section of the document image scanning section 202 performs the following operation. First, the images transferred from the image inputting section 101 are memorized at the image memorizing section 103, and the images memorized in the image memorizing section 103 are transferred to the movement detecting section 104. At the movement detecting section 104, the difference in corresponding pixels between an image I (t) at time xe2x80x9ctxe2x80x9d and an image I (txe2x88x921) at right before time xe2x80x9ctxe2x88x921xe2x80x9d is calculated. And the difference image F of the calculated result is transferred to the hand region detecting section 206 and the hand region removing section 207. At the hand region detecting section 206 divides the difference image F into regions, and the regions connecting to the upper side in the difference image F are detected as the hand regions, and the detected regions are transferred to the hand region removing section 207. The hand region removing section 207 removes the regions detected at the hand region detecting section 206 from the difference image F, and judges the remaining parts in the difference image F as a document region, and transfers the remaining region to the document image forming section 212. The document image forming section 212 cuts out the same region that the hand region removing section 207 judged as the document region from the image I (t) read from the image memorizing section 103, and forms a sheet of an image and makes the image the document image. And the document image is outputted from a terminal 113.
However, at the conventional document image scanning apparatus mentioned above, there are following problems. At the conventional document image scanning apparatus, the hand region detecting section 206 regards the region connecting to the upper side of the image as the hand region, and decides that the region removed the regarded hand region is the document region. However, when an operator handles documents on a desk, the operator does not always take the hand off the document. Therefore, there is a problem that the document image can not be obtained, unless the operator takes the hand off the document.
And the document image is obtained at the timing when the hand is taken off the document, therefore, when a document is obtained in a state that the hand is not taken off the document, there is a problem that the document part and the hand part can not be separated. And also, there is a problem that the timing when the document should be obtained can not be controlled. And in case that the pages of a book are turned, there is a problem that unnecessary images during the pages are turning are obtained.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a document image scanning apparatus and method thereof, in which document images can be obtained at the right timing by separating hand images from document images technically, even at the case that the hand images and the document images are not separated.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document image scanning apparatus, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images. The document image scanning apparatus provides an image being still detecting means for detecting that said inputted image became still, and a document forming means for obtaining said document image by cutting out from an image displayed at when said image being still detecting means detected a still image.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning apparatus, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images, provides an image being still detecting means for detecting that said inputted image became still, a hand region detecting means for detecting a hand region, a hand region removing means for removing said hand region, and a document forming means for obtaining said document image by cutting out from an image displayed at when said image being still detecting means detected a still image.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning apparatus, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images, provides an image being still detecting means for detecting that said inputted image became still, a hand region detecting means for detecting a hand region, a hand region removing means for removing said hand region, a hand movement feature extracting means for extracting features of hand movements, a document movement feature extracting means for extracting features of document movements, a turning pages or moving documents judging means for judging whether a movement is turning pages or moving documents from said features extracted at said hand movement feature extracting means and said document movement feature extracting means, a document region judging means for judging a document region by said movement of turning pages or moving documents, and a document forming means for obtaining said document image by cutting out from an image displayed at when said image being still detecting means detected a still image.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning apparatus, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images, provides a hand region detecting means for detecting a hand region, a hand region removing means for removing said hand region, and a document forming means for obtaining said document image by cutting out from a displayed image.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning apparatus, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images, provides a hand region detecting means for detecting a hand region, a hand region removing means for removing said hand region, a hand movement feature extracting means for extracting features of hand movements, a document movement feature extracting means for extracting features of document movements, a turning pages or moving documents judging means for judging whether a movement is turning pages or moving documents from said features extracted at said hand movement feature extracting means and said document movement feature extracting means, a document region judging means for judging a document region by said movement of turning pages or moving documents, and a document forming means for obtaining said document image by cutting out from an displayed image.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning method, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images, provides the steps of, detecting that said inputted image became still, and forming a document image by cutting out from an image displayed at when a still image is detected at said step detecting that said inputted image became still.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning method, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images, provides the steps of, detecting that said inputted image became still, detecting a hand region, removing said hand region, and forming a document image by cutting out from an image displayed at when a still image is detected at said step detecting that said inputted image became still.
According to eighth aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning method, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images, provides the steps of, detecting that said inputted image became still, detecting a hand region, removing said hand region, extracting features of hand movements, extracting features of document movements, judging whether a movement is turning pages or moving documents from said features extracted at said steps of extracting hand movement features and extracting document movement features, judging a document region by said step of said judging whether said movement is turning pages or moving documents, and forming a document image by cutting out from an image displayed at when a still image is detected at said step detecting that said inputted image became still.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning method, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images, provides the steps of, detecting a hand region, removing said hand region, and forming a document image by cutting out from an image displayed.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, a document image scanning method, in which images are inputted in a designated interval by using a non-contact type image inputting apparatus and document images are obtained from said inputted images, provides the steps of, detecting a hand region, removing said hand region, extracting features of hand movements, extracting features of document movements, judging whether a movement is turning pages or moving documents from said features extracted at said steps of extracting hand movement features and extracting document movement features, judging a document region by said step judging whether said movement is turning pages or moving documents, and forming a document image by cutting out from an image displayed.